Let’s just be honest - Piracy happens. It’s a terrible thing, but it will probably never go away. It would be AWESOME if every content creator got all the money they deserve, but it would also be awesome if I could date Faye Valentine. Alas, only at Cons... Still, Japan has come up with a new campaign to combat the piracy of anime and manga. Instead of punishing the pirates, Japan is trying to reward the people who come by their anime and manga honestly. Let us introduce the Manga-Anime Guardian (M.A.G.) Project.

So, just what is the M.A.G. Project? Think of it like a purity ring for piracy – something you promise not to do after getting a bit of a lecture on its evils. The ultimate goal of the project is to end piracy and promote the use of official, usually paid, sources by thanking fans who acquire their manga/anime fix through legitimate channels.

To help fans understand the magnitude of woes that piracy inflicts on the industry, the M.A.G. Project offers some alarming statistics that should make you think twice about firing up BitTorrent and grabbing the most recent episode of Attack on Titan. The site reports the following:

“Regrettably, according to a report of Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) of Japan, a huge number of Manga and Anime fans, over 50% of them in U.S. and 12% in Japan, are watching or reading pirated works.

The estimated cost of damage from online piracy is as much as JPY 2 trillion (approximately US$20 billion). A report of Agency for Cultural Affairs of Japan indicates that in major cities of China (Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou, and Chongqing) the damage cost to Japanese contents is JPY 560 billion (approximately US$5.6 billion) per year.”

That’s a lot of yen.

If you want to learn more, check out the site and maybe even join the cause. So far, they’ve successfully gotten over a million people to click the join button –- including Team TOKYOPOP! If you join, you can get a free download of the special-edition illustration you see up on top of the page.